[1] The stones caused his horses to limp and wore down the hooves of the cattle and sheep which Sturt had taken on the expedition.

[5] It is home to the Kowari, a small but feisty carnivorous marsupial which hunts nocturnally on the vast gibber plains.

[6] One of the kowari's main prey is the Long-haired Rat, a native rodent whose population occasionally booms to extraordinary numbers.

During the booms thousands of rats can sing from their burrows, creating a hum which rises through the earth and fills the desert night.

[7] Booming rat populations provide bountiful food for kowaris, inland taipan, dingoes and the rare Letter-winged Kite.